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Saturday, 27 September 2014

Chennai hospitals surveyed for accessibility - CHENNAI

64 hospitals responded to a questionnaire on the availability of facilities for disabled persons

A recent survey of city hospitals for their accessibility to people with
disabilities received mixed response. While private hospitals seemed to
be receptive to the exercise, government hospitals seemed unwilling to
allow audits.

According to Smitha Sadasivan of the Disabilities Legislation Unit
(DLU), hospitals are the first and basic unit that a person with
disabilities needs accessibility to. And that is why, DLU, part of Vidya
Sagar — which is a non-profit organisation working with persons with
disabilities — recently conducted the study in 98 hospitals, with the
help of students from the NSS unit of School of Excellence in Law.

“We wanted to audit the accessibility of city hospitals in terms of
their infrastructure, diagnostic equipment, procedures as well their
attitudinal response to the needs of disabled persons,” Ms. Sadasivan
said, adding that an important feature they looked for was the seeking
of informed consent from disabled people.

Sixty-four hospitals responded to a questionnaire on the availability of
ramps, parking facilities, accessibility indicators like signage, and
wheelchair-accommodative lifts, and 34 hospitals did not.

“We also wanted to know if hospitals had conducted training for
employees on the requirements of people with disabilities,” said Salomi
Christie, one of the students who visited the hospitals.

“Many private hospitals treated the survey with respect,” said Ms.
Sadasivan, adding that the same could not be said of government
hospitals.

“Repeated requests to hospital authorities led us to the office of the
Directorate of Medical Education. We were finally told a letter would be
sent to us regarding permission to audit government hospitals. It has
been a week, and no letter has been received so far,” she added.

The results of the survey will be released on October 24, observed as United Nations Day, Ms. Sadasivan said.

Study was conducted by a unit of Vidya Sagar, with the help of students.